


Proud

by GlitterFairy_21225



Category: Ready or Not (2019)
Genre: Alex Le Domas is an Asshole, Character Study, Daniel Le Domas Lives, Drinking to Cope, F/M, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Daniel Le Domas, Self-Worth Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterFairy_21225/pseuds/GlitterFairy_21225
Summary: He decides young that he shouldn't care if his parents are proud of him. If no one's proud of him. Even himself. For almost his entire life, he lives with being the object of everyone's disappointment. Up until his brother brings home a girl....Daniel Le Domas throughout the years. From a naive kid coming to terms with his family for the first time to a drunk choosing to do what's right for the first time in a long time.
Relationships: Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Comments: 10
Kudos: 89





	Proud

Daniel remembers the first time the Hide and Seek card was drawn in his lifetime. He remembers the masks his parents and grandparents wore, the pleas of an innocent man to a child, his once innocent aunt's cries fading into resignation, and most of all his mother looking at him and saying she was proud.

In the months that followed, his Aunt Helene was inconsolable, but his parents simply said that it was a necessary loss and that she'd have to get over it eventually. She never did though, she was never the same.

Daniel remembers her the best. The her before her wedding. Perks of being the oldest maybe. But Daniel remembers her before the drawing of the card. When she was kind, and seemed to care for her niece and nephews. But she was gone. Gone forever.

It isn't until he's older that Daniel realizes that the sour look in her eyes are there because their family killed the love of her life. And the more he thinks about it the more he realizes that the groom must have been someone special, and then he realizes he must have been someone kind, someone who didn't deserve to die.

But he did die. Because Daniel gave him away and his mother was proud of him for it. And he was happy because his mother was proud.

He's not stupid, he knows that there's a bunch of ritual bullshit that went into that man's death, but doesn't take away the dread, the clench, the loathing, he feels in his stomach when he thinks about that man, the way he begged for mercy as his mother told Daniel how proud she was. He gets drunk.

It takes awhile, but Daniel adjusts to not caring if his parents aren't proud of him.

The last time either of his parents throw him a bone must be his on wedding day. Not the way most parents would be proud of their kid on his wedding day. They don't look at him and realize that he's all grown up, and they're proud of the person he'd become.

No, his parents are proud because for all his fuck ups, and there were a lot, Daniel somehow manages to find the perfect Le Domas. They don't even like her that much, they're just impressed she still wants to go through with the wedding.

Plus Alex came home for the wedding. So they're in good moods.

Life goes on, and Alex gets drunker, giving less and less of a shit with each passing year. But drunk isn't blind, and he can see the looks of disdain from those around him, and doesn't care.

He supposes that if he ever gets his wife pregnant, that might be a reason for them to be proud, but as hot as his wife is, they've grown bored of each other's bodies. Besides, it's for the better. Maybe their family deserves to die out, unlikely as it might be with his nephews.

But even then he wouldn't make a good dad. He just wouldn't. Any kid he'd have would resent him, and maybe even be as much as a fuck up as Daniel himself, even with Charity whispering in their ear.

The only thing Daniel can bring himself to care about anymore is his brother. His good, perfect brother. The perfect son for his parents, the perfect big brother for Emilie, the perfect everything except a Le Dumas. Hell, even Aunt Helene rambles about his importance. He's perfect, too perfect for their family. So of course he brings home the perfect girl.

Grace is different. Grace is kind and naive, at least by Daniel's standards. She's excited to be a part of their family, but Charity's not wrong when she says she'll never be one of them. She's too good to be one of them. It's not hard to figure out that his brother kept her in the dark about game night.

Alex is either a fucking idiot, or the bravest Le Domas of all of them. Maybe both. Marrying for love must be better than the loveless marriage he's stuck in, but it would only make the game much harder to bear. And then there's the chance of falling for a girl like Grace, sweet and kind and nothing like their horrid family. She'd run if she knew, so Alex didn't fucking tell her.

Daniel wonders what it would have been like to marry for love, but knows he'd never be able to live with himself if he...

If it was that nerve-wracking to watch a girl he didn't love draw a card, Daniel can't imagine going through that with a girl like Grace. An innocent girl. A girl who deserves the world. A girl who would be utterly horrified by the family she's marrying into.

Alex needs to tell her though, before it's too late.

She is owed that much, just like both Charity and Fitch were, and they aren't worth half of Grace combined. Even if she'll leave, which is obviously why Alex never said anything in the first place, but it's her life on the line. She should know.

Daniel tries to warn her, in a vague sort of way, but not enough for her to know the full length of what she's marrying into. If he did tell her for real, she'd think him drunk at best or psychotic at worst, and Alex would hate him for scaring her. After all, seems he's going through great lengths not to see her go.

And maybe Daniel doesn't want to see her go either.

Daniel didn't want to marry Charity, but his parents wanted him to carry on the bloodline. He didn't love her, not back then. Now... Well, she is family now.

But seeing Grace in her wedding dress, seeing her smile as she looks at Alex, seeing her trying to keep her cool under the scrutiny of the family, it stirs something in Daniel, something he's never quite felt before. A knotting in his stomach that sends him for a loop. Must just be the lack of decent people he's known to compare her to.

He ignores it, because it's the only thing he can do. She's head over heels for Alex, and he's the same. And Daniel's not good enough for her anyways, not like Alex. That's her groom, someone she could be proud to call her husband. Not just for the last name, and the money, as a person.

And then she draws the one fucking card that just rips him to shreds. But it can't be helped. At least that's what he tells himself as he accepts the weapon handed to him. Nobody actually wants to hurt Grace, except for Aunt Helene probably, but nobody is gonna protest killing her either. And certainly not a coward like Daniel.

She's not even good at hiding. The first time she walks out a door, right behind them, and the second Daniel just walks in on her.

Daniel wonders if he'd have have told her if he was the one marrying her. Even knowing that she might leave. No, if he was in Alex's shoes he wouldn't have asked her to marry him in the first place. Even if he'd have to watch her go. But if she left, then at least they wouldn't be in this position.

Grace pleads with him, and all Daniel can give her is a head start that spares her for the moment, and as he says the same words he spoke so many decades ago, he knows no one will be proud of him this time.

But hey, at least he's not Emilie. Being stuck with his dumbass sister on corpse duty would probably be so much more embarrassing if Daniel hadn't already accepted his own dumbassery years ago.

And then there's his nephew. Little Georgie, around the age Daniel was when his aunt's groom drew the Hide and Seek card. Except Georgie didn't scream for the grown ups to come and do whatever it is grown ups want to do with the strange, new person in their home. Instead Georgie shot her.

And Emilie is so fucking proud.

Georgie looks happy, and Daniel wonders if that's what he looked like all those years ago as they dragged that man away.

He imagines Alex in thirty years, old and bitter, looking at every person to marry into the family as fresh prey. Desperately clinging to the family lore as a way to make the pain of losing her lessen somehow. To regret ever trying help Grace survive, and make no qualms about killing off the next innocent in-law. But he'll at least be alive.

So he pushes through it when he and Grace are alone (but not really) again and she begs for his mercy. To Dad's surprise.

But it sticks. The way she believed in him, expected him to be better, saw something good in him. The only other person he can say that about is her husband. Maybe that's what sticks. How perfect she and Alex are for each other, even when it comes to seeing some worth, something to be proud of, in a fuck up like Daniel.

The way his family never could.

As they prepare for the ritual, the satanic ritual where they sacrifice an innocent because their ancestor wanted some gold, it hits Daniel. In what world is it fair for Grace to die so that a family of selfish, vain, fucked up murderers can live?

So even knowing it would bring death to him, his entire family, and even the one decent member of the storm shit that is the Le Dumas family, Daniel makes a choice. A choice that will turn the entire family against him even if the devil doesn't murder them all.

He should have found a poison with longer lasting side effects though, his mistake.

But as everyone knows, no one in their fucking family can aim for shit. The bullet hits but not anywhere to be fatal, at least not right away, and sends him collapsing onto the floor. But Grace is utterly done at this point, and knocks her out while Charity is paralyzed in her stunned state.

Grace tries to drag him along, but Daniel's only slowing her down. They'll catch them at this rate, and then everything he's just done will be pointless. He'd fail her and he'd fail his brother along with failing the rest of his family. So even knowing he'll be at the mercy of a merciless family whom he just betrayed, he knows what he has to do next.

"Leave me." He tells her.

She looks at him like he's crazy and shakes her head, but he digs his heels into the floor and refuses to move. Knowing the others are on his trail, Grace reluctantly leaves him, but not without giving him a genuine thank you first.

He sighs heavily as he watches her go. Daniel is fucked, that much he knows. He's no expert, but if his lucidity is telling, than wound won't bleed out until well after dawn. By then a family member should find him first.

If he's lucky, Le Bail will kill them all before they can get their hands on Daniel. Unlikely as that is considering there's still about thirty minutes before sunrise. So he rests on the floor against the wall, waiting for death to come in the form of another vengeful family member or even as a demon paying his dues. But it's neither who finds him.

Alex looks slapped in the face when he sees him, but Daniel just waves him in the direction of where his wife. He looks really fucking sorry but it doesn't take long for his baby brother to bolt.

Daniel wonders if it's worth it. Alex dying for Grace, not to mention his nephews, and Emilie, and the woman he brought into this family. Willingness, attempted matricide, and gold digging set aside.

Sure, Grace didn't ask for this, but Alex didn't ask to be born into this family. Neither of them did, and unlike Daniel, Alex tried to break away from this bullshit. Alex deserves a long life, a chance to be better than the life their family forced on them, the way he chose and wanted.

But he also chose and wanted for Grace, his beautiful bride, to live. Even at the cost of every other shitty, undeserving Le Domas. If Daniel was in his shoes he'd choose and want the same, though that would only ever happen if Grace uncharacteristically decided marrying a fuck up like Daniel would be worth joining a murderous family.

None of this shit is fucking fair. Because Grace sure as hell doesn't deserve any of this and unlike Alex she didn't know there was a chance at getting this at all.

He'd rather die with Alex and Grace being proud of him than live the rest of his life being a disappointment to everyone he meets, always a passive member of his family's crimes.

And then- "SHE'S IN HERE!!!"

Alex?

There's screaming coming from somewhere in the mansion. Daniel's not sure what's going on but he figures now's a good time to start moving. He's slow, painfully slow considering the levity of the situation, something he's finally deciding to give a shit about.

Daniel doesn't waste time trying to go to where he heard the screaming. He limps until he makes it all the way back to the sacrificial table he just freed Grace from less than an hour ago. Just in time to see his Aunt Helene fucking explode.

"Holy shit, it's real." Daniel says in disbelief. Yeah, he already believed, kinda a byproduct of being raised to believe, but to see it actually play out before his eyes....

The others start exploding. Charity begs to be spared, and despite the lack of love between them, and the attempt on his life, it fucking hurts to see her die, if only out of guilt from marrying her into the family in the first place. Then it's Emilie, the little sister he never thought much of, running out with her sons, just kids the way he and Alex were during the last game.

Dad starts ranting, at him, at Mister Le Bail, but it doesn't matter because then he's blowing up too, leaving just three left. Daniel, Alex, and Grace. Alex is begging Grace, pleading with her for forgiveness. Because he fucking betrayed her.

It's like rose-tinted are lifted off his eyes, and Daniel finally sees his brother for who he is. Not a perfect white sheep trying to break away from the family and certainly not a loyal servant of Le Bail. Not the golden boy either way. Alex insists he's changed, insists he's better, and sounds so desperate.

So this is what it's like to be the one who's disappointed.

Daniel waits for his turn to be blown to smithereens and join his family in hell. Accepts it, not with open arms, but with the same nonchalance he gives everything. But instead he's met with the sight of the devil himself, nodding at the both Daniel and Grace respectfully. It reminds him of his dad, almost. When Daniel was much younger, and Dad had something to have a small semblance of pride in.

He and Grace lock eyes. "Fuck." They say in unison.

Between their individual injuries, the dead bodies in the cellar are enough to convince the police that there was a serial killer in the Le Dumas family, and Daniel pays off the police to lay off further investigations. He names his family dead even without their bodies.

In an odd twist of fate, Daniel and Grace end up living together. He offers her all the money in the world, but money doesn't get rid of trauma, it just pays for therapists. They keep in contact, because he really does like her, and he guesses she must like him too.

When the media parade that comes with the obvious cover up becomes too much for Grace, he offers to buy her a house in anyplace in the world she prefers. She asks for a smaller house, at least compared to the giant Le Domas mansion, but fairly big by most standards, and somewhere quiet. Anywhere quiet.

The request for Daniel to go with her takes him by surprise. He'll never see how Grace doesn't see him as a screaming reminder of the shit she's been through. But when asked why, she just shrugs and drags her cigarette.

"I don't know... You're just... You're the only person who knows, you know?"

He does. She's the only one who knows as well.

Over time, they grow to be comfortable together, and then they grow to care for each other. And then, they grow into something more. They don't even mean to, it just happens oddly enough. As though it's just a natural next step, they only have each other, so what they grow into happens without them even thinking or thinking to stop.

He wonders what Alex would think. Probably what anyone think about their brother dating his widow. Daniel forces himself to remember that Alex betrayed Grace, but that only serves to remind him how he failed the one member of his family who had hope, and now it seems Daniel's stolen the place that was rightfully his.

It's odd though. Being around someone he actually gives a shit about and who actually believes in him. But Daniel thinks he likes it. Thinks it might be worth the overwhelming doubt and guilt if he can just be allowed to exist with Grace by his side.

It's Grace who suggests he gets sober. But not in the snide way his dad and Charity would comment on how many glasses he's had, and not even in the haughty way his brother or mother would propose he had his last drink. She asks in a patient tone that leaves it entirely up to him.

And for the first time, Daniel realizes he wants to get sober. He doesn't need to drown his sorrows anymore. Doesn't need something to get him through the overwhelming disgust he has for those around him and to ignore the pain of knowing that it's a mutual feeling. He doesn't need to drink to pretend that he's happy, he can be happy in real life already.

And seeing Grace's prideful smile when she looks at him is enough.


End file.
